About Me

One night I had a dream.
I dreamt that I was a magnificent Rainbow Dragon.
Many people were afraid of me and they ran away and hid whenever I came near.
This saddened me greatly, but I could not force the people to give up their fear. Whenever I approached them, they assumed that I meant to devour them, and they grew even more afraid.
One day, a woman gathered up enough courage to come and stand before me and look into my eyes. When she did this, she saw that my eyes held no malice - only her own reflection. She saw that she too possessed the strength, the power, and the beauty of the Dragon.
The woman no longer feared the Dragon. She went on to live her life as a testament to her own truth and light, no longer a slave to fear, and she became the Rainbow Dragon for many others who came after her.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Report from the Trenches -- One Week In

1. Word Count

Baseline: 11,669My Goal: 14,000My Actual: 20,604

Baseline is the 1667 word per day daily minimum required to reach 50,000 words by the end of November.

The NaNoWriMo statisticians report that only 5% of Wrimos are on or above par with the baseline pace at the end of week two. Being this close to the week two baseline target after only one week, I don't think I have anything much to worry about on the word count front. (Of course, no one who knows me ever imagined that I would, including myself. The real challenge for me is going to be making it to the end of my story by the end of the month. That is shaping up to be considerably more than 50,000 words away.)

2. Blogging

I have posted to both this blog and Raindancing Dragons daily so far, however, since I normally post at the end of my day, and my schedule was shifted later on November 3rd due to an external cultural engagement, that day shows as missing from both blogs because I didn't get a chance to update until after midnight.

The first day my Sun Sals felt okay and I strove for good form in each pose. Days 2 and 3, I felt the previous days' exertions in my shoulders and arms. Day 4 I was staying with a friend and had not brought my yoga mat with me, so I flew through my Sun Sals at a fast pace, not worrying about form at all. Simply trying to avoid slipping on the carpet. Today, for the first time, my yoga actually felt good.

At the beginning of the week, my dog slept right through my morning yoga. Recently she has taken to "helping" me:

Practicing yoga with a dog is perhaps not the best way to encourage proper form in one's poses, but it sure makes for lots of laughter!

4. Mileage

Pretty much right on track for four miles a day. Many of them I have hiked by myself, however. Princess Kendal isn't too enamoured with my outdoor activity plans now that the weather has turned cold and wet.

5. Diet

Right on track here with three square meals a day. Following the Canada Food Guide. Snacking on fresh fruit and Optimum Energy Bars (they're organic, well-balanced, were recommended to me by my dietitian friend and they actually taste good!)

I do have one confession to make regarding diet. Previous to last night, I had not consumed caffeine for medicinal reasons since 1992 and had planned on getting through NaNoWriMo without the drug. The November greys have been effecting me with a strong urge to hybernate however (not something the Californians considered when they shifted NaNoWriMo from summertime to November, I'll wager). When 5PM rolled around yesterday and I had not written my first word of the day, I hiked down to the drug store to buy a bottle of juice and walked away with a can of Monster. I don't plan on making this a regular habit, but 2841 words later, I had written the most adrenaline-packed chapter of my story so far.

6. Schedule

Rising before the sun is over-rated.

I am going to keep trying for the rest of the month to give the idea a fair shot and because my house is actually quiet in the early morning, but come December 1st, I'm pretty sure I'll be falling back to a 7 a.m. rise at the earliest.

7. SL Wrimos

We made it to the century mark in membership and beyond. (125 at last count.) No one has touched the blog so far this month (which is how it should be this early in the game) but in-world meetings are going well. Last Sunday's write-in was a big hit and group members are starting to plan more write-in times in addition to the weekly one I host.

Activity on our forum thread remains high, there have been several excellent entries in my word-of-the-day challenges, and a friendly competitive spirit is developing amongst team members. Everyone is loving Sodovan Torak's word count titlers which were updated frequently during Sunday's write-in, with everyone present cheering whenever a group member logged an important milestone.

8. Local Wrimos

I finally did meet up with some other local Wrimos on October 31st. I neglected to get NaNo IDs from anyone, however, so have not been in touch with the group since. Next meeting is mid month.